The Muppets: "Life's a Happy Song When There's Someone By Your Side to Sing Along"

Just about every year, it seems that there is one movie that I anticipate above all others. While 2011 had many promising candidates – including my beloved Winnie the Pooh and Harry Potter facing off against each other in the middle of summer – there was one film that had me aquiver with excitement from the time I first heard rumors of its release. Of course, it helped that it had the cleverest, most persistent ad campaign of any movie I can recall, expertly spoofing multiple genres while demonstrating its ability to appeal to a broad audience. I’m speaking, naturally, of The Muppets, the James Bobin-directed movie that launches Kermit the Frog and all his felt friends onto the big screen for the first time in more than a decade. While television specials and viral videos have helped them maintain a presence in recent years, The Muppets feels like a joyous return to the glory days of those madcap mischief-makers whose merriment brought mirth to millions.

It takes a special kind of person to get the Muppets in such a visceral way as to be able to revive them for a cynical generation. When I heard that Jason Segel was not just starring but actually co-writing the screenplay, I thought, “You know, this could be a very good thing.” While some of his recent projects have had a decidedly off-color streak, I will always recall Segel first as sweetly goofy aspiring drummer Nick Andopolis on the sadly short-lived high school dramedy Freaks and Geeks, and the endearing idealism he brought to that character seems a perfect fit for Jim Henson’s relentlessly positive creations. Together with Nicholas Stoller, he crafted a screenplay as innocent as it is exuberant – a movie that dares to demonstrate that there is room in this world for hope, togetherness and splashy musical numbers… and maybe an ill-timed explosion or two.

Segel plays Gary, a lovable grown-up kid who still shares a house with his little brother, his best friend. The brotherly affection between Gary and Walter, earnestly voiced by Peter Linz, is so genuine that it never feels weird that one is a man and one is a Muppet. In fact, it hearkens back to the peculiar brotherhood between Kermit and Fozzie Bear in The Great Muppet Caper. These are characters who have always transcended the traditional boundaries of family. Still, living in a tiny town surrounded by humans, Walter feels out of place, even with the world’s most supportive big brother looking out for him. His discovery of the Muppets as a child quickly bloomed into an obsession, a dream of a different destiny. Now, years later, Walter is childlike as ever and about to achieve a lifelong dream. But what kind of growing up will be required for him to take that all-important step?

Walter is truly the heart of the movie, a representation of those devoted fans for whom the luster of the Muppets has never dimmed. Like Kermit in The Muppet Movie, he is a dreamer in search of a connection, but because The Muppet Show pointed the way for him, he knows just where to find it. It’s a story of self-discovery, of letting go and reconnecting, and all those who ever laughed until they cried over Gonzo’s cannon-shot chickens and Fozzie’s groan-worthy jokes will understand the euphoria emblazoned on Walter’s flexible face as his heroes gradually gather for a raucous reunion.

These are the viewers who will best appreciate all of the in-jokes and the cameos from lesser-known Muppets, to say nothing of the wistfully funny situations in which the main players find themselves. The newly initiated, meanwhile, can have fun pointing out all the human celebrities, from contemporary child stars Selena Gomez and Modern Family’s Rico Rodriguez to elder statesmen Mickey Rooney and Alan Arkin. Jack Black gets more screen time than most as Animal’s disgruntled anger management sponsor, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who geeked out over the revelation of who Walter would look like if he were human.

Then, of course, a menacing Chris Cooper is the oil baron darkly commiserating with his paltry band of sycophants as the fate of the Muppet Studio Theatre hangs in balance, while Amy Adams brings her usual brand of sunshine with a spritzer of vulnerability to Mary, a hands-on teacher so beloved by her students they dread spring break but unable to secure a commitment from the man she’s dated for a decade. Like Segel, she seems a perfect fit for the Muppets’ harmonious mayhem.

Speaking of harmonies, there are some great ones in this movie that features several original songs written by Bret McKenzie, one-half of the brilliantly batty New Zealand folk-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. His style meshes marvelously with the Muppets’ fine fusion of silliness and warmth, with the two standouts the soul-searching duet between the brothers and the lavish group number we hear at both the beginning and end of the movie. Beyond that, we get classic Muppet fare like Rainbow Connection and Mahna Mahna with a new twist or two, along with a few regular radio hits. If I’d had any lingering doubt as to whether they were going to pull this off, I would have relinquished it in sheer delight over the opening montage set to the sprightly strains of a song Paul Simon once performed on Sesame Street.

However, even before the movie started I was grinning over the Toy Story short Small Fry, which pokes fun at poorly conceived kids’ meal toys at fast food restaurants. On a trip to a medieval-themed chicken joint, Buzz Lightyear falls prey to a nefarious plot by a miniature Buzz who has languished too long in the display case. After a romp in the ball pit, Little Buzz makes his way into Bonnie’s backpack to hobnob with Woody and the gang while the real Buzz wanders into a group therapy session for discarded toys led by a militant mermaid voiced by Jane Lynch. Askew versions of beloved characters and a bunch of oddballs finding solace in each other appropriately foreshadows what’s to come in the movie proper.

More than 15 years ago, Pixar established itself as a studio capable of bringing that rare blend of sly wit and wholesome fun that, coupled with a compelling story, makes an ideal family film. The Jim Henson Company has always offered that type of entertainment, so The Muppets is truly a joy from pre-start to finish. While reflecting upon the wonders of the rainbow, a famous frog has postulated, “We know that it’s probably magic.” If we’re talking about the rainbow of marvelous misfits that make up the Muppets, there’s no “probably” about it.

Teen Witches Try to Avert Vacation Disaster in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

I haven’t really kept up with the hit tween shows on the Disney channel, but when the Wizards of Waverly Place movie surfaced as an instant viewing option on Netflix, I decided to give it a whirl. I figured I was in for something family-friendly and relentlessly cheesy, and that’s pretty much what I got. I wouldn’t call this movie, written by Todd Greenwald and Daniel Berendsen and directed by Lev Spiro, a theatrical quality film, but it’s a fairly entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

The Russos are an unusual family. Dad (David DeLuise) is a wizard who gave up his powers to marry the love of his life, a mortal (Maria Canals-Barrera). The kids inherited their father’s abilities but are in the process of honing them. When the family takes a sunny island vacation, the kids are supposed to leave the magic at home, but that does not end up happening. Instead, they need to use all their ingenuity and magical ability to counteract the effects of a wish inadvertently made by snotty teenager Alex (Selena Gomez). In a fit of aggravation with her mother, she wishes her parents had never met, and the wish actually works, leaving her and her brothers – responsible Justin (David Henrie), the golden boy of the family, and young goofball Max (Jake T. Austen) – scrambling to repair the damage.

While Max focuses, Back to the Future-style, on trying to bring his parents together, Justin and Alex put aside their differences to team up on a cross-island quest to secure the magical object needed to unwish that fateful wish before all three siblings disappear. It’s fun to see the differences in the parents’ personalities; both seem a lot more free-spirited as unattached adults, and laid-back Dad is particularly entertaining. I’m sure that the contrast would be even more amusing to someone who watches the show regularly.

The most engaging part of the movie is Alex and Justin’s quest, which has many of the elements of an Indiana Jones movie. They must battle their way through secret codes, dangerous precipices, the inevitable rope bridge over a chasm and, naturally, a creepy cave full of perilous secrets. There’s ample adventure here, and the new sense of closeness that Justin and Alex develop in the process is touching. That brother-sister relationship is the most compelling element of the movie for me.

Of course, there’s plenty of slapstick, and many of the effects are pretty goofy-looking. Some characters are there almost entirely for comic relief. That’s particularly true of Archie (Steve Valentine), a street magician who is after the same enchanted object as Alex because he hopes to restore his parrot to her rightful form as a beautiful woman. He’s a rival, then, but never a very alarming one, and his antics are amusing in a broadly comical way. Most of the dialogue is pretty cheesy, so that may bring laughs whether they were intended or not. Same goes for the special effects.

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie is a fairly nonsensical movie, but it’s also a nice celebration of family, and the lush island setting makes it more appealing. While most adults will probably roll their eyes a bit, this is a fairly fun flick for the target audience.